MAJ McKinley was a helicopter pilot, United States Army Medical Service Corps from January 1971 through April 1994. He had 3,242 hours in Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) and the OH-58 Bell Jet Ranger helicopters.
His primary mission for the 23+ years of medical service was Medevac (Medical evacuation) during the Vietnam (1971-1972) and Desert Storm Campaigns (1990-1991). While in Vietnam, he flew 972 hours of combat time obtaining the Air Medal with 24 oak leaf clusters. He flew medical evacuation with the 82nd Medical Detachment (HA) (Helicopter Ambulance) and the 57th Medical Detachment (HA) -- the original DUSTOFF, from Binh Thuy Naval Station and the 3rd Surgical MASH (Mobile Air Surgical Hospital) in IV Corps Vietnam. DUSTOFF is a Medevac term meaning Dedicated Unhesitating Service To Our Fighting Forces. While with the 57th Medical Detachment (HA), he became in Instructor Pilot and was the Standardization Pilot for his unit as well as the South Vietnamese pilots assigned to the Medevac Mission.
After service in Vietnam, McKinley became a member of the 146th Medical Detachment (HA) in Parkersburg, WV a WV National Guard Unit. For the next 20 years, he flew the medevac mission as a member of the WV Guard and the Virginia Guard. Responding to natural disasters and emergencies such as floods, snowstorms, lost hikers, etc., he established along with the WV Aviation Support Facility Commander, designated landing areas at major hospitals in WV for purposes of inter-hospital transfer and emergency evacuation of the sick and injured civilians in that State. He moved to Virginia in 1983, and changed medical evacuation units. He was assigned as a Chief Warrant Officer in the 986the Medical Detachment (HA), Richmond Virginia.
In October 1989, McKinley was selected Commander of the 986th Medical Detachment (HA) and promoted to MAJ in September 1990.
In September 1990, the 986th Medical Detachment (HA) became the first National Guard Aviation unit activated for Operation Desert Shield later Operation Desert Storm. MAJ McKinley was responsible as Commander for conducting post medevac for four months for Ft. Bragg, NC and Ft. Steward, GA backfilling for the active Army Medevac Detachments. In January 1991, as time for the ground war neared in Desert Storm, his unit was deployed to King Khalid Military City in Saudi Arabia where he logged over 400 hours of combat time and the unit safely evacuated over 4,000 sick and wounded American soldiers and Saudi Arabian, Kuwaiti, and Iraqi civilian victims of the war.
Upon returning to the United States in May 1991, MAJ McKinley was asked to form the 986th Medical Company (AA) Air ambulance), increasing unit size to 120 personnel and 12 UH-1 Air Ambulances. He retired May 1994 as a Master Army Aviator with 3,242 hours and having evacuated an estimated 5,000 patients for further medical assistance.